Who cares about CSR anyway??

Think about it: We are living in the most digitalized world ever. Everything is electronic and information in huge quantities is transferred around the world in nanoseconds.

BUT:

We moved office just last weekend with 400 reusable paper cartons. And as with every move you start to sort out. And what was I sorting out: Tons of PAPER. Printed paper, catalogues, flyers, brochures, of all sorts and of all categories. Selling products and services by sending fat thick catalogues around the world still seems to be very fashionable. And I guess there still must be people out there actually reading a city destination catalogue with 200 pages which by the time it is printed is already outdated and inacurate.

IS there anybody out there that actuall READS them??? I don’t. I have no opt-out solution so I have been sent approx. over 200 kilograms (400 pounds) of 4c printed paper over the last 4 years.

Now I know that the internet also is a very energy consuming media, but it is at the tip, it is acurate and available 24/7 globally.

Dear publishers, dear catalogues producers around the world, I know you will hate me for this, but please do NOT send me unrequested paper, think CSR.

Beginning Of The End Of E-Mail

Are you or are you not sick and tired about the current most popolar method of global communication? Is it not ineffective, time consuming, error-prone, hard to manage and after all to fast to cope? Yes I am talking about emails.

And yes eventually Emails will be gone!!

We will have to get used to new communication tools that enable us to work more efficiently on our daily projects. Emails will not vanish but will have to be cut back to what they were in the beginnings of the digital world: A digital letter. Projectbased communication via email is a waste of time and resources however it is difficult to eradicate.

I found the below article from Lisa DiCarlo in forbes.com. It was written in July 2005, so you can tell the problem is not new but for me personally the situation is getting worse.

NEW YORK - Earlier this week I was reminded of the opening lines of the popular 1980s Whitney Houston song "The Greatest Love of All," which declared that "children are the future" and that adults should "teach them well and let them lead the way."

If that's true, then e-mail may be at the beginning of a long, slow decline in usage. According to a study by the Pew Internet and American Life project, barely 5% of American teens aged 12 to 17 prefer e-mail over instant messaging as their digital communications method of choice. Teens view e-mail as a way to talk to "old people" or institutions like companies. Kids, it seems, prefer the immediacy and mobility of instant messaging and text messaging to e-mail, which they might some day refer to as snail mail, the same way most people over 30 refer to the U.S. Postal Service.

Pew reports that some teens have as many as seven screen names to accommodate their enormous IM buddy lists, which typically limit users to 200 names. Why does any of this matter? Why should you care how kids spend their parents' dough? Well, like Whitney says, these kids are the future and they're leading the way. American teens, an astonishing 87% of whom are online, are what's helping drive the consumer electronics industry, including development of new products. Witness the Walt Disney Co.'s (nyse: DIS - news - people ) foray into the kiddie-cell phone business with Sprint (nyse: FON - news - people ).

Further, millions of today's teens will become tomorrow's white-collar workforce. What they are used to using and prefer to use today will carry over to corporate America in the next decade. As the younger digital generation infiltrates the workforce they will take their preferences with them. They will set the technology agenda. That's not to say that e-mail use is dropping. It is still the most popular Internet application. According to the Radicati Group, over 130 billion e-mail messages will be transmitted worldwide every day this year. That number should more than double to 276 billion in 2009.

Corporate users and consumers will swap 14 billion IMs per day worldwide this year, a figure that Radicati expects will more than triple to 46.5 billion by 2009. The number of free public IM accounts will grow to 1.1 billion in 2009 from 816 million today, while corporate IM accounts will more than double to 126 million in that time frame. Pew says that 89% of Internet users use e-mail daily, about the same percentage as 2000, but that the "popularity of e-mail and intensity of its use is waning" in favor of IM. For corporate users, IM might provide a good alternative to e-mail. The scourge of spam and viruses have not yet hijacked IM services as they have e-mail systems like Microsoft's (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ) Outlook.

Further, so-called "presence" technology, which lets users know when and if you are available, are becoming an increasingly valuable business tool. Businesses "see the value of IM and are giving in to users' demands for it," says Teney Takahashi of the Radicati Group. On top of that, Microsoft itself may be helping to marginalize e-mail with the upcoming version of Office. It lets teams of people work together in real time on documents, which bypasses the need for e-mail altogether. It's not likely that IM will ever replace e-mail, simply because the latter is such an ingrained part of daily business life and because the lack of IM standards and protocols inhibit interoperability between different systems. But there's no denying where the momentum is. Just look to the children.

P’CONCEPT JOINS MCI FAMILY IN BERLIN, GERMANY

My team and I are thrilled about the new opportunities and growth potential the merger with MCI will provide. Together with the already existing Pharma Team, our goal is to further develop our live-communication business in the fields of corporate meetings, incentives and DMC-services. Our existing clients will be served with continuous quality and will benefit from the business network and the large global community MCI provides.

p’concept staff and operations will be fully integrated in to MCI Berlin offices, which are managed by Gunda Stickan (Managing Director). As Director of the strengthened Corporate Division, I will drive the Pharma-, Event- and Live-Communication business. The p’concept team will move into MCI Berlin’s Markgrafenstrasse offices end of September 2007.

Following the 2005 merger with the highly established PCO-company Congress Partner GmbH in Berlin, MCI, Europe’s leading company in the meetings industry, is continuing its expansion in Germany with the acquisition of p’concept Berlin, headquartered in Berlin, Germany. Together with the former Congress Partner they will operate as MCI Berlin Office.

p’concept Berlin (“The agency for congress & event management”), was founded in 1991. Initially planned as a Destination Management Company (DMC) for Berlin, it rapidly became a partner for local corporate clients throughout Germany. It then gradually grew to become a pan-European actor. p’concept Berlin has a particular expertise with clients in the banking and financial sector and has a strong client base from the US market. p’concept’s clients include, amongst others, DZ Bank, Vodafone Foundation, McKinsey, Morgan Stanley, Bloomsbury Publishing, Bausch & Lomb, Berlin Tourism Marketing, General Motors Bank and American Chamber of Commerce in Germany.

Polo Looser, responsible for MCI Central Europe, mentions: “With the experienced talents of p’concept joining our MCI Berlin office, we now have a solid base for further growth. This step strengthens our position and our client base”.

About p’concept Berlin
p’concept Berlin was founded in 1991. It uses the slogan “powered by personality” throughout its operations. p’concept Berlin has a particular expertise with clients in the banking and financial sector and a has a strong client base from the US market The company counts 6 employees and reported a turnover of € 1.9 Million for 2006. For more information, please visit the company’s website http://www.pconcept.com/

About MCI
Founded in 1987 and with offices in Barcelona, Belfast, Berlin, Brussels, Dubai, Dublin, Geneva, Gothenburg, Lyon, Madrid, Paris, Petersfield/London, Prague, Shanghai, Singapore, Stockholm, Stuttgart, Vienna and Zurich, MCI is the foremost global Association, Communication and Event Management company. Thought-leaders in building community around brands, products and services for companies and institutions, MCI holds a strategic alliance with SmithBucklin for a Global Partnership. MCI currently employs more than 615 talents and its turnover by year-end 2006, was €118M. For more information, please visit http://www.mci-group.com/.

The end of the CD is near

Turnover figures decrease rapidly. Finally the silver sound carrier really seems to fade away.

Three weeks ago two million readers found a CD in the "Mail on Sunday" of the musician, who today is called "Prince" again. "Planet Earth" as the current album was also presented at the entrance free of charge to the guests of his London appearance .

Now the extravagant publication methods of the dwarf from Minneapolis are as legendary as his early records. But obviously Prince again sharpened his sense of business: What is a CD worth after more than hundred years of recording? And after 25 years of digital self-destruction?

If even local bands do no longer sell CDs at concerts to not endanger their fan t-shirt business? What‘s a CD for 15 Euro worth, if a t-shirt brings 30 Euro and is produced in Bangladesh?

For years obituaries have been written about the CD. Now Robert Sandall who was Director of communication at Virgin Records during the crisis years from 1996 onwards is seriously singing the swan song so one can only comment: “It comes to an end”.

Sandall writes in the reputable "Prospect Magazine" that we are to blame.
In the 1982 CD rush nobody in the industry listened to Maurice Oberstein, Polygram boss at that time who said: "We are giving away our master tapes!"

The short term price duplication for CDs was followed by a disastrous decline in value. Musicians realised that concerts served no longer to promote CDs but the other way round.

The figures: In the first business quarter 2007, compared to last year, world-wide CD business again lost around 20%. Sandall writes about the German market: "82 million Germans converted into a nation of bootleggers, who are spending cents on albums, which did cost 40 DM in former times.

The once largest market of Europe today is not larger than the Dutch." The "Prospect Magazines" does not event count the percentage for Germany anymore. France went down 25 percent, Great Britain 20, America 15. The record store chain HMV halved its business within only a year. More severe than the numbers however are the conclusively voiced concerns about the future.
Robert Sandall thoroughly destroys exaggerated hopes that losses can be adjusted by an exploding download trade (40 percent growth in Germany). For him the download boom is hardly more than a proof for the fact that the music consumption changes and recorded music rapidly loses value.

One accumulates music pieces as rumbling files in cheap devices. CDs and MP3s are what musicians distribute for free, what sticks on magazines or falls out of Sunday newspapers.

In April “Mail on Sunday” was already delivered with "Tubular Bells" to the readers. An album, which established Mike Oldfield’s fame in 1973, above all however it established Richard Branson’s conglomerate Virgin, today a part of the EMI.

While canned music loses out, live performances seem to be moving very dynamically in the opposite direction and are experiencing a renaissance.

If even conservative music buyers, i.e. Heavy Metal fans use free download offers today in order to save their money for journeys to live festivals there is not much to promise to the old CD.

Translated from an article from Michael Pilz, published in the Berliner Morgenpost Newspaper on August 9, 2007.

Ice Lounge in Dubai, Cool?

I got this piece of information today from a German marketing agency promoting Dubai.

Looking at ever decreasing energy resources this bar in Dubai is surely not on the energy conservation side of things.

But then again if you think about it that Dubai is willing to host one of the next WINTER OLYMPICS this icy bar is just the "icing" on the cake of energy consumption.

What comes next? Air-conditioned motorways? Frozen beaches? Ice skating on the Persian Gulf? Beach resorts at the north-pole? Here ist the article:

Dubai has a new attraction: a chill-out bar entirely made of ice. Patrons step into a sub-zero environment with the walls, tables, chairs and even their own personal glass with a cool mocktail made out of ice.

Chillout will be the first Ice Lounge in the world serving a selection of cold sandwiches and salads apart from a range of beverages such as Asian Mount Everest, Canadian MT Logan, The Chillout Mix, Lawrence of Arabia amongst others.

And it's not easy to build. The ice for the Chillout restaurant will be shipped in freezer trucks from Canada to freezer containers aboard ships in Montreal that will embark on a 6,500-nautical-mile voyage to Dubai. In total, four containers, each holding about 23,000 kilograms of Ontario-made ice, will set sail to the Middle East. It will take nearly a month to get there, and the $150,000 worth of ice will take eight Iceculture workers about seven days to assemble into an 1,800-square-foot eatery. But how will they stop it from melting in the searing heat of Dubai I hear you ask? Chillout will be constructed in a large freezer.

Said Ibrahim Sharaf, chairman of the developers, Sharaf Group, “There are a very few ice lounges in the world, and those mainly at places with a cold climate. So, the idea of building an ice lounge in Dubai was not only intriguing but also challenging.”

When guests arrive at Chillout, they are provided with thermal clothing – a designer parka with hood, one time use hand gloves, and protective footwear.
Next, guests step into an air lock, close the door, and open another door that leads into the Chillout’s frozen inner sanctum. To prevent body heat from damaging the pristine surface of the ice blocks, it has a maximum capacity of 45 visitors.

The ice used in Chillout is made by a special process so that it is crystal clear with no opaqueness providing an immaculate look to the entire lounge. Other ice features at Chillout include a seven feet high chandelier, ice curtains, a coloured ice portrait of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, and the skyline of Dubai along with other points of interest.

MPI Names 2007-2008 Board of Directors

Meeting Professionals International 2007-2008 leadership assumed their roles July 1, bringing in a board of directors led by Angie Pfeifer, CMM, assistant vice president, corporate meetings, travel and incentives, Investors Group Financial Services Inc., Winnipeg, Manitoba.
In addition to Pfeifer as chairwoman, the Board of Director’s Executive Committee includes:
Chairman-elect:

Larry Luteran, vice president, group sales and industry relations, Hilton Hotels Corp.
Vice Chairman of Administration:

Paul Kennedy, MBE, group exhibition director, Reed Travel Exhibitions
Vice Chairwoman of Finance: Ann Godi, CMP, president, Benchmark360 Inc.
Vice Chairman of Member Services: Eric Rozenberg, CMP, CMM, president, Ince & Tive
Immediate Past Chairman: Mark S. Andrew, CMP, CHA, president and CEO, Andrew Hospitality Inc.
Ex-Officio: Bruce MacMillan, CA, president and CEO

Other members of the 2007-2008 Board of Directors include Marge Anderson, associate director, Energy Center of Wisconsin; Betsy Bondurant, CMP, CMM, Coronado, Calif.; Matt Brody, CHSP, director of marketing, JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort and Spa; Luca Favetta, director global events EMEA–APA, SAP Swisse SA; Caroline Hill, strategic development manager, conference and events, Roche Products Ltd.; Karen Massicotte, CMP, CMM, BA, director of operations, PRIME Strategies; Carole McKellar, MA, CMM, MCIPD, managing director, Resources for Business Group; Michael Owen, managing partner, EventGenuity LLC; Ole Sorang, director of regional marketing–Nordic countries, Rezidor SAS Hospitality; Sebastien Tondeur, CEO, corporate division, MCI; Alexandra Wagner, director of corporate meetings and events, Sun Trust Bank; and Carl Winston, program director, hospitality and tourism management program, San Diego State University.

The board’s European Council Representative is Gerrit Jessen, CMP, managing director, P’Concept Berlin.

The MPI Foundation Board representative is Michael Beardsley, CEO, Inn Fluent LLC. The International Chapter Leadership Committee representative is James McDonough, director training and meeting services, Fusion Productions, and the board’s legal counsel is Jonathan T. Howe, Esq., president/senior partner, Howe & Hutton, Ltd.

MPI to Sign the United Nations Compact on Corporate Social Responsibility

MONTRÉAL (July 28, 2007) – In a bold leadership statement, Meeting Professionals International (MPI) today announced that it will sign the United Nations (UN)Global Compact on Corporate Social Responsibility. The MPI Board of Directors gave the unanimous approval during the World Education Congress à la Montréal.

The United Nations Global Compact on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is the world’s largest corporate responsibility initiative with more than 3,700 participants and stakeholders from more than 100 countries. It provides an unprecedented and powerful platform for participating organizations with respect to advancing their commitment to sustainability and global citizenship. It consists of more than 50 national networks in developed and emerging economies and provides an opportunity for signatories to further their corporate social responsibility objectives.

“This is the first step in making a commitment to this growing global focus,” said Angie Pfeifer, CMM, chairwoman of the MPI board of directors. “By supporting the UN Compact, MPI continues to position itself as an industry leader and elevates the conversation for our members by informing them about Corporate Social Responsibility and the role that meetings and events professionals can play in supporting those principles for employers and clients. As more and more successful organizations focus on CSR, it is the right thing to do at the right time.”

There are 10 principles in the UN Global Compact in the areas of human rights, labor, environmental sustainability and anti-corruption. The Compact asks companies to support and enact, within their sphere of influence, these principles as core values.

The global compact is a voluntary initiative to promote good corporate citizenship, a set of values based on universally accepted principles, and a forum for learning and an exchange of experiences.

MPI has retained Wallace and Partners to assist them in developing emerging educational and marketplace opportunities related to Corporate Social Responsibility for MPI’s global community. They also have been tasked with accelerating MPI’s commitment to environmental sustainability at its events, including the introduction of a number of new practices at its World Education Congress currently under way in Montréal.

“One of our four strategic imperatives is to elevate the conversation and experience for our members,” said Bruce MacMillan, CA, MPI president and CEO. “Committing to the principles of the UN Compact is a first step in educating our members about a growing global initiative that will impact their professional world. It is also meant to inspire them to take action and make them more strategic to organizations and clients who have or would like to make a similar commitment.”

For more information on the UN Compact go to http://www.unglobalcompact.org.

About MPI
Meeting Professionals International, the global meetings industry community, is committed to delivering success for its more than 22,000 worldwide members by providing innovative knowledge and learning experiences, connecting people and ideas and creating rich marketplace opportunities. Founded in 1972, the Dallas-based organization delivers global human connections through its 68 chapters and clubs in 20 countries around the world. For more information, visit www.mpiweb.org.

BE SMART

This is a personal love affair that I have with this beauty. My last car was a Range Rover, before that I had a 5 Series BMW.

The Range did about 1 mile per gallon which at German gas prices is a killer (even for a compay car). But as it is with guys and cars the decision to buy a Range was not entirely rational. So when I had enough of it (and enough fun with it, I have to admit) I decided that now it was time to do something about my CO2 balance. So I bought a SMART. And I bought it fully loaded. Only thing it does not have is power steering (tough guy!) and a GPS (I only use it in town). It is a convertable and has the smallest Diesel engine on the market and it does about 60 mile per gallon in town. Now beat that!!

It has this funky semi automatic, no clutch but stick shift. It is fun to drive and once I am in it, I have more headspace than I had in the Range. I will probably have to drive it for the next 100 years to bring my CO2 balance back to neutral, but I am somehow looking forward to it.

SMART in the US in Fall of 2007 at a dealer next to you. From 14.000 US$

P.S. SMART is a Brand of Mercedes-Benz!

Ever dreamt of knockin out a call center agent?

I found the below article at forbes.com under “communication devices of the future” and automatically had to think about how I would use it. Just imagine how efficient call centers would perform if physical action would be possible to react to bad AND also to good service. Hug or punch the call center agent of your choice. That would certainly give the 3rd dimension back to the flat world!

Empathetic Communications
Sensitive, touchy-feely people need to communicate effectively, too. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon's Project on People and Robots have created The Hug, a multi sensory wireless phone and fuzzy pillow that lets people communicate using sensors, heating pads, gently buzzing motors and arrangements of lights while they carry on a telephone communication. The point of the Hug is to allow a physical interaction to carry over long distances, using the same technology that can carry data and voice.
The functionality of this device may seem pointless or even comical, but the underlying idea of using technology to communicate both emotionally and physically could lead to richer, more personal communications in the future.

TED An incredible think-tank conference

I came across this incredible site and thought this would probably add value to you as well.

TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader.
The annual conference now brings together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes).

The site makes the best talks and performances from TED available to the public, for free. More than 100 talks from our archive are now available, with more added each week. These videos are released under a Creative Commons license, so they can be freely shared and reposted.
The TED mission: Spreading ideas. We believe passionately in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and ultimately, the world. So we're building here a clearinghouse that offers free knowledge and inspiration from the world's most inspired thinkers, and also a community of curious souls to engage with ideas and each other. Over time, you'll see us add talks and performances from other events, and solicit submissions from you, as well. This site, launched April 2007, is an ever-evolving work in progress, and you're an important part of it. Have an idea? We want to hear from you.

The TED Conference, held annually in Monterey, is still the heart of TED. More than a thousand people now attend — indeed, the event sells out a year in advance — and the content has expanded to include science, business, the arts and all the big global issues facing our world. Over four days, 50 speakers each take an 18-minute slot, and there are many shorter pieces of content, including music, performance and comedy. There are no breakout groups. Everyone shares the same experience. It shouldn't work, but it does. It works because all of knowledge is connected. Every so often it makes sense to emerge from the trenches we dig for a living, and ascend to a 30,000-foot view, where we see, to our astonishment, an intricately interconnected whole.
In recent years, TED has spawned some important extensions.

TEDGlobal is a sister conference held every other year, and in a different country on each occasion. The first conference was held in Oxford, England, in 2005; the second, in June 2007, is to be held in Arusha, Tanzania. The themes of the global conference are slightly more focused on development issues, but the basic TED format is maintained.

TEDTalks began as a simple attempt to share what happens at TED with the world. Under the moniker "ideas worth spreading," talks were released online. They rapidly attracted a global audience in the millions. Indeed, the reaction was so enthusiastic that the entire TED website has been reengineered around TEDTalks, with the goal of giving everyone on-demand access to the world's most inspiring voices.

Today, TED is therefore best thought of as a global community. It's a community welcoming people from every discipline and culture who have just two things in common: they seek a deeper understanding of the world, and they hope to turn that understanding into a better future for us all.

Murphy's Law for Meeting Suppliers: Continued from Friday, June 8

A happy ending after all for the hedgehog!

It ended well after all. That's what we get paid for. No more busses broke down and the client was very happy with the services performed.
My conclusion:

It shows that you still need to be behind everything and everybody to make things seem to go flawless. This is why our philosophy when working with groups is just like the fairytale of the hare and the hedgehog of the brothers Grimm.
Problem solved

Murphy's Law for Meeting Suppliers: A true Fairytale

This is a little fairytale from meetingsland only that there is no happy end but more of a bitter ending. Meeting Planner who read this will probably have gone through the same ordeal but as it just happened to me very condensed over the last few days I thought I share it with you.

All names, locations and supplier names are of course fictional but who is interested in the real story just contact me.

We take care about a company sales incentive group of 60 of a foreign country. Everything is diligently planned, plans are written, detailed confirmations have been distributed to suppliers, to make it short, nothing can go wrong:

Airport: We see the bus, but it stops way off the pickup bay, we call the driver, the bus is too heavy (28 tons) to stop in the pickup parking bay (only 18 tons allowed), Why such a big bus for only 27 delegates? Not the drivers problem, complain to the dispatcher.
So we talk to the other bus drivers around find one who gives up his parking for a 28 tons bus because his group only arrives in 3 hours... Why did the bus driver not ask?
Problem solved

The 5 star deluxe hotel (which the client booked directly) refused to let us park 20 cars in front of the hotel for a group pickup. We talk to five different managers, we get it in writing that it is NOT possible. The next morning we sit together with the client and the hotel and the hotel agrees to allow the cars to be parked. (don't you love them when they make you look stupid?)
Problem solved

On the return transfer from the dinner the bus does not start, 8 participants push it, it starts, action games free of charge...
Problem solved

The next morning, another bus, same problem, it does not start, only this time we are on a tight schedule but fortunately have two busses, so fill one up, rest in cabs, and order new bus after lunch. It only happens every 15 years that two busses in a row break down, but who cares?
Problem solved

We discover by accident that the boat that we have rented for a canal cruise does no longer leave where it used to leave from 10 days ago! Maintenance on the canal made the location change necessary, but nobody bothered to inform us. Our contact was very sorry. Well, we found out ourselves.
Problem solved

It was planned to access a dinner location we will be using over a terrace, only by chance did we find out that the terrace was no longer existent as the municipal authorities had decided to convert the terrace into a street, fencing in our dinner location. Our contact knew it for days but did not bother to call us. He was sorry. Well, we found out ourselves.
Problem solved

The program will last for another two days so stay tuned for more excitement and my final conclusion to this fairytale.

United Nations GLOBAL COMPACT, a set of rules for the flat world

In a flat world a universal set of rules for business ethics and environental issues is of paramount importance. I feel that the below UN initiative could be that set of rules as it is not a superficial derivate developped by brainiacs but is based upon 10 principles that represent a global set of human values.

The Meetings Industry in particular as a truely global industry should be at the forefront of implementing the UN Compact.

What is the Global Compact?

In an address to the World Economic Forum on 31 January 1999, the former Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, challenged business leaders to join an international initiative – the Global Compact – that would bring companies together with UN agencies, labour and civil society to support universal environmental and social principles. The Global Compact’s operational phase was launched at UN Headquarters in New York on 26 July 2000.

Today, thousands of companies from all regions of the world, international labour and civil society organizations are engaged in the Global Compact, working to advance ten universal principles in the areas of human rights, labour, the environment and anti-corruption .
Through the power of collective action, the Global Compact seeks to promote responsible corporate citizenship so that business can be part of the solution to the challenges of globalisation. In this way, the private sector – in partnership with other social actors – can help realize the Secretary-General’s vision: a more sustainable and inclusive global economy.

The Global Compact is a purely voluntary initiative with two objectives:
-Mainstream the ten principles in business activities around the world
-Catalyse actions in support of UN goals

To achieve these objectives, the Global Compact offers facilitation and engagement through several mechanisms: Policy Dialogues, Learning, Country/Regional Networks, and Partnership Projects.

The Global Compact is not a regulatory instrument – it does not “ police”, enforce or measure the behavior or actions of companies. Rather, the Global Compact relies on public accountability, transparency and the enlightened self-interest of companies, labour and civil society to initiate and share substantive action in pursuing the principles upon which the Global Compact is based.


The Ten Principles

The Global Compact's ten principles in the areas of human rights, labour, the environment and anti-corruption enjoy universal consensus and are derived from:

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
The International Labour Organization's Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work
The Rio Declaration on Environment and Development
The United Nations Convention Against Corruption


The Global Compact asks companies to embrace, support and enact, within their sphere of influence, a set of core values in the areas of human rights, labour standards, the environment, and anti-corruption:

Human Rights
Principle 1: Businesses should support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights; and
Principle 2: make sure that they are not complicit in human rights abuses.
Labour Standards
Principle 3: Businesses should uphold the freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining;
Principle 4: the elimination of all forms of forced and compulsory labour;
Principle 5: the effective abolition of child labour; and
Principle 6: the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation.
Environment
Principle 7: Businesses should support a precautionary approach to environmental challenges;
Principle 8: undertake initiatives to promote greater environmental responsibility; and
Principle 9: encourage the development and diffusion of environmentally friendly technologies
Anti-Corruption
Principle 10: Businesses should work against corruption in all its forms, including extortion and bribery.

United Nations Global Compact, A MUST for the global Meeting Industry

In a flat world a universal set of rules for business ethics and environmental issues is of paramount importance. I feel that the below UN initiative could be that set of rules as it is not a superficial derivate developed by brainiacs but is based upon 10 principles that represent a global set of human values. The Meeting Industry in particular as a truly global industry should be at the forefront of implementing the UN Compact.



What is the Global Compact?


In an address to the World Economic Forum on 31 January 1999, the former Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, challenged business leaders to join an international initiative – the Global Compact – that would bring companies together with UN agencies, labour and civil society to support universal environmental and social principles. The Global Compact’s operational phase was launched at UN Headquarters in New York on 26 July 2000.



Today, thousands of companies from all regions of the world, international labour and civil society organizations are engaged in the Global Compact, working to advance ten universal principles in the areas of human rights, labour, the environment and anti-corruption .


Through the power of collective action, the Global Compact seeks to promote responsible corporate citizenship so that business can be part of the solution to the challenges of globalisation. In this way, the private sector – in partnership with other social actors – can help realize the Secretary-General’s vision: a more sustainable and inclusive global economy.


The Global Compact is a purely voluntary initiative with two objectives:
- Mainstream the ten principles in business activities around the world
- Catalyse actions in support of UN goals


To achieve these objectives, the Global Compact offers facilitation and engagement through several mechanisms: Policy Dialogues, Learning, Country/Regional Networks, and Partnership Projects. The Global Compact is not a regulatory instrument – it does not “ police”, enforce or measure the behaviour or actions of companies. Rather, the Global Compact relies on public accountability, transparency and the enlightened self-interest of companies, labour and civil society to initiate and share substantive action in pursuing the principles upon which the Global Compact is based.



The Ten Principles


The Global Compact's ten principles in the areas of human rights, labour, the environment and anti-corruption enjoy universal consensus and are derived from:
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
The International Labour Organization's Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work
The Rio Declaration on Environment and Development
The United Nations Convention Against Corruption


The Global Compact asks companies to embrace, support and enact, within their sphere of influence, a set of core values in the areas of human rights, labour standards, the environment, and anti-corruption:


Human Rights
Principle 1: Businesses should support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights; and
Principle 2: make sure that they are not complicit in human rights abuses.
Labour Standards
Principle 3: Businesses should uphold the freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining;
Principle 4: the elimination of all forms of forced and compulsory labour;
Principle 5: the effective abolition of child labour; and
Principle 6: the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation.
Environment
Principle 7: Businesses should support a precautionary approach to environmental challenges;
Principle 8: undertake initiatives to promote greater environmental responsibility; and
Principle 9: encourage the development and diffusion of environmentally friendly technologies
Anti-Corruption
Principle 10: Businesses should work against corruption in all its forms, including extortion and bribery.

Ich bin ein Berliner, JFK 1963 in Berlin, NOW back in town

JFK has left an ever lasting positive impression on the Berliners of yesterday and today. When he visited the divided city of Berlin in 1963 only a few months before he was assassinated his statement "Ich bin ein Berliner" left the city reassured that he would not give in to the Soviet pressure of that time.

Even though the lectern from behind which he addressed the thousands of people still exists today at the Schöneberg City Hall, nothing of value did commemorate that visit until this year.
The Kennedys is a neat small little museum directly at Pariser Platz opposite the Brandenburg Gate and perfectly designed to spend 30 min. to one hour on the trail of JFK, his family and of course his visit to Berlin in 1963.

Mary Power, CAE, the P in CMP, leaves CIC

Whoever hat personally met Mary will agree with me that energy has but one name:
Mary Power.

I read today that Mary has resigned from the CIC.

She has been raising the profile and performance of the Convention Industry Council (CIC) over a seven year tenure as President.

During that time, CIC reserves have grown from $224,000 to $900,000, and the prestigious Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) industry certification program has swelled from 2,000 credentialed individuals in three countries to over 12,000 CMPs in 34 countries today.

Mary has also overseen the creation of the Accepted Practices Exchange (APEX) initiative, which is developing voluntary standards for the industry in order to improve its efficiency and effectiveness.

I am sure that my friend Beate Ewing who is on the CMP Board together with all other Board members will keep the CMP program growing.

Certified Meeting Professional, Bridging the Atlantic

In April at the IMEX in Frankfurt my colleague of p’concept Andreas Laube and I successfully took the exam offered by the Convention Industry Council (CIC) in order to receive the designation of a Certified Meeting Professional (CMP).

The requirements for this certification are based on professional experience and a written examination. In order to qualify for the application process one needs to prove his long-term experience in the field of meeting management and that he is responsible and accountable for the successful execution of meetings.

Once accepted, the preparation for the examination, lasting four hours with 165 questions, starts. As part of their preparation Gerrit and Andreas decided to participate in three CMP Study weekends, offered through the MPI Germany Chapter.

The CMP designation recognizes meeting managers who have achieved the industry's highest standard of professionalism. It was established in 1985 aiming to increase the proficiency of meeting professionals in any component or sector of the industry.

A successful examinee gains industry-wide recognition by achieving the CMP designation. We aimed for the CMP designation because of the widespread acceptance of the CMP designation in the US meetings market.

The elite CMP community now numbers over 12,000, with representatives from every sector of the industry - from corporations and associations to governmental and institutional organizations - in 32 countries.

EPIC 2015 and the Gutenberg invention

What is most impressing I find with the Vision of EPIC 2015 (google it and watch this 7 min. film on an incredible digital vision) is that paper print which is currently seen as obsolete and even harmful for the environment will end as the communications platform for the future elites AND the elderly. So besides all the positive effects the digital revolution has flattening the 21st century Gutenberg's invention of printing will remain. Printing was an elite thing when he invented it some 500 years ago, it became the mass communication tool over centuries, it has been conquered by pixels within a decade and will return to the communications tool for elites in the near future.